| 1. |  Rebecca Littleton Butts was born in 1800 in Georgia; died after 1861 in California. Other Events and Attributes:
- Residence: 1838, Blue, Independence, Jackson Co, Missouri
Notes:
Rebecca, an illiterate mother of five and pregnant with her sixth child, had no choice but to follow her husband, Williamson Hawkins, when he picked up and moved his family west from their Tennessee home in 1830. They traveled by wagon and settled in newly created Jackson County where Hawkins began accumulating land. Within eight years, he retained 1,680 acres of land, including two gristmills and ten slaves.
The chain of events that follows took place along the Little Blue River where today stands the Eastland Shopping Center at the confluence of M-291 and I-70 Highways.
During this time, Rebecca bore three more children, and the family appeared to be living solid, hardy, pioneer lives. But, under the surface lurked a dirty secret. For nearly 20 years?all her married life?Rebecca Hawkins suffered the physical abuses inflicted by her husband. She was a battered homemaker. It was common knowledge in the small, rural Jackson County community that her husband, under the influence of whiskey, routinely beat and whipped Rebecca, as proved through historical documents by biographer William B. Bundschu, in his book, Abuse and Murder on the Frontier: The Trials and Travels of Rebecca Hawkins: 1800-1860.
In 1838, Rebecca sought a home remedy to her desperate situation. She stirred white arsenic ratsbane poison into her husband?s coffee. Her initial attempt to end the attacks by removing the attacker failed (and there?s evidence she may have tried twice). Still, Williamson, ill from the effects of an unknown plague, made out a lengthy Last Will and Testament.
Meanwhile, Rebecca resorted to Plan B. She paid $150 to her next-door neighbor, Henry Garster, to administer another form of poison?a lethal dose of lead poisoning by way of a gun. Rebecca assisted Garster by removing a portion of the mud chinking between the logs of her house by the side of the chimney through which Garster took aim with a squirrel rifle and shot Williamson in the heart while he was sitting asleep before the fireplace.
Unfortunately for Garster, he was tracked to his house by footprints he left in a light layer of snow, and ultimately paid for his part with his life in the first legal hanging in Jackson County in 1839. Rebecca was arrested at the time of Williamson?s burial and later tried and acquitted on charges of aiding the murder. But, she was convicted on charges of poisoning based on testimony quoting a conversation with her own slave, Mary.
http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/21791047/person/18032843757/media/1?pgnum=1&pg=0&pgpl=pid%7cpgNum
Rebecca married Williamson Hawkins in 1818 in Tennessee. Williamson was born in 1795 in Henry, Henry Co, Tennessee; died in Sep 1838 in Blue Springs, Jackson Co, Missouri. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]
Children:
- 2. William Henry Hawkins
 was born on 28 Feb 1820 in Paris, Henry Co, Tennessee; died on 26 Jan 1883 in Cottonwood, Yavapai Co, Arizona.
- 3. James J. Hawkins was born in 1822 in Henry Co, Kentucky; died on 10 Jun 1848 in Jackson Co, Missouri.
- 4. Eli W. Hawkins was born in 1824 in Paris, Henry Co, Tennessee; died after 1830.
- 5. Pendleton Biddle Hawkins was born in 1824 in Henry Co, Kentucky; died in 1885 in Visalia, Tulare Co, California.
- 6. Martha Jane Hawkins was born on 22 Aug 1828 in Paris, Henry Co, Tennessee; died after 1830.
- 7. Elizabeth Ann Conduet Hawkins was born on 27 Nov 1830 in Independence, Jackson Co, Missouri; died on 4 Jun 1889 in Catheys Valley, Mariposa Co, California.
- 8. Jesse Andrew Hawkins was born in 1834 in Jackson Co, Missouri; died on 7 May 1878 in Pope Valley, Napa Co, California.
- 9. Dr. Salathiel Hawkins was born in 1835 in Jackson Co, Missouri; died after 1870.
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1800 - Aft 1861 (62 years)
